This book is receiving considerable press attention and Campbell’s ability to convey love the way he does has to be a big reason for the popularity of the book. Campbell movingly says about his own Marines in the opening chapter, “And I hope and pray that whoever reads this story will know my men as I do, and that knowing them, they too might come to love them.”

Campbell’s account looks at the seven and a half months in which he serves as a platoon leader in some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq war, which occurred in Ramadi in 2004. Before the Marine Corps, Campbell was an undergraduate at Princeton who spent a summer completing the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS) because he thought it would look good on his resume. Campbell says he hated the entire program, and didn’t think twice about joining since he hadn’t taken any money from the Corps, and therefore didn’t owe them anything. He would ultimately change his mind however as graduation approached.

If love and leadership are recurrent themes, it is often discussed from a faith perspective, and Campbell is somebody who has thought seriously about his own faith and what that means for him and his men. Campbell talks about how before each combat mission he huddles up with his platoon for prayer, which often included reciting the twenty-third Psalm. “I had a responsibility to my men to provide for all their needs, and those included their spiritual as well as their material ones,” says Campbell. He also discusses some of his early thoughts on the prayer ritual before each mission:

Deep in my heart, I believed that prayer would work without fail, that if together Joker One prayed long and hard enough, God would spare us all from Mac’s fate [another Marine seriously wounded by a road side bomb]. What I know now, and which didn’t occur to me then, was that by praying as I prayed, and hoping what I hoped, and believing what I believed, I was effectively reducing God to a result-dispensing genie who, if just fed the proper incantations, would give the sincere petitioner (me) the exact outcome desired.

This book is masterful at tracing the growth and experience of Campbell’s theological progression just as it does concerning his leadership skills, decision making ability, and the moral questions he asks himself. Where prayer before was focused more on personal safety, He says it changed even more as the chaos and random violence surged. “To those who sought it, the prayer also provided some comfort that God was in control, that their lives had worth and meaning stemming from an absolute source,” says Campbell.

After one of his own Marines, Lance Corporal Todd Bolding was killed in action, Campbell understandably lost much of his enthusiasm to continue the mission. He had promised himself that he would bring all of his platoon home. He says:

For whatever reason, [Private First Class Gabriel] Henderson’s tender heart kept a close watch on me, and one day, roughly two weeks after Bolding’s death, he walked up to me and said out of the blue: ‘Hey sir, you know that none of the platoon blames you for what happened to Bolding. It’s okay, sir.’ I didn’t know what to say to that. Henderson broke into a smile. ‘Bolding’s in heaven now, sir, and I know that he’s smiling down at us right now, just like he always smiled at us when he was here. He’s okay, sir. Don’t worry, sir. He’s okay. And someday you will get to see him again, sir.’ I had to turn away to keep from crying. I think that Henderson’s profound, simple faith was what finally allowed me to pick myself back up, and, in some very real sense, regain my own faith.

This book deals with a lot of raw emotion, the frustrations with all the problems in Iraq, and tragedy. At the closing of Campbell’s account, he does a beautiful job of articulating the greater-love principle from John’s Gospel (15:13).

In seminary I took a class on leadership and I know Campbell’s book teaches more lessons about leadership than classes or many other books could. His account is a strong reminder that some of America’s best, regardless of policy debates or politics, are the ones silently shouldering a heavy burden in America’s current conflicts. While much of the country goes to the mall, shops, and attends sporting events, there are those who suffer and have to make quick life and death decisions where the consequences of combat often result in bad or worse.

This is definitely one of the best books of 2009. The narrative is somewhat similar to Nathaniel Fick’s book from 2005, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer, in that both authors do a wonderful job at baring their heart and telling the stories of young men who do courageous acts solely for others and not themselves. Interestingly enough, both authors were officers in the Marines who came out of Ivy League schools. All of the wonderful sacrifices Campbell’s platoon made for a largely unappreciative civilian Ramadi population in 2004, and the havoc they wreaked on their foe, is a reminder of the truth that rings out from the great unofficial U.S. Marine motto, “No greater friend, no worse enemy.”

It sounds like a very interesting book with a unique perspective. Thanks for the nice review.

I’m off to order it right now …

Roger McKinney

Thanks for the review. Can’t wait to read it. By the way, if anyone is looking for ideas for a Christian film, this is an excellent one!

Tracy Jue

Thanks Ray for the review. I am always interesting in stories about people but not so interested in reading about war related books. I definitely check this out I hope it will change my thinking toward military related ideas and also toward officers willing to give up a job and opportunities a Ivy league educaion in the states for military officer. I like your summary “there are those who suffer and have to make quick life and death decisions where the consequences of combat often result in bad or worse”.

http://www.randomhouse.com Tim Bartlett

As Donovan Campbell’s editor here at Random House, I wanted to thank you for this incredibly thoughtful review. All of the people here at RH who have worked with Donovan find him and his book tremendously inspiring, perhaps most of all for his example in living the greater-love principle. While Donovan is adamant that this book is first and foremost a testament to the great sacrifices made by his men (as indeed it is and should be), I’m thrilled to see a reviewer articulate the book’s larger message about
love and leadership. One is struck by how different our circumstances might be if these principles had been followed by our business leaders over the last few years.

Sincerely,

Tim Bartlett
Senior Editor
Random House

Scott

Ray,

Thank you for this. As I read it, I was touched by Private First Class Gabriel Henderson’s words, as well by Donovan Campbell’s feelings of failure, remorse, and disbelief or loss of faith. Sadly enough, there are those that still look in the mirror and say to themselves as they brush their teeth each morning “It should have been me instead”, or “Why couldn’t I have saved him?”. This of course can be crippling, and the only way to combat it is to find a higher purpose, one for which ‘love’ has spared you to do a greater good. For this reason, like a thousand other commanders on a thousand other battlefields, they wait for the door.

Semper Fidelis

Of course, I will be retaining a copy for myself as well.

Werner Speer

Dear Ray
Thanks for your review this is a book I will read. This man’s story is a testimoy to the LORD’s work in the lives of many of those who serve courageously and honorably in this difficult war. It is in stark contrast to the miserable polticians who have repeatedly maligned and defamed our Nations best. Your review is excellent.
Werner

Terry Huggins

Nice Review! I heard good things about this book and am gonna look at getting it.

http://rosecityreader.blogspot.com/ Rose City Reader

Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful review. I just finished Joker One and my very short review is posted here on Rose City Reader. This is a tremendously good book and I wish I had read it earlier.

I was particularly moved by his concluding section on the nature of love — love as a verb, not a feeling. I wasn’t expecting that in a book about war and think, as you do, that those reflections are what raises the book above the genre.

I would like to link to your review on mine. If that is OK with you, please leave me a comment on my post so I can find it and I will add the link.